Gala Bingo clubs sold!

The biggest bingo chain in Britain, Gala, has been sold in a deal worth £241m!

Caledonia Investments confirmed this deal, where they'll get the 130 clubs that the Gala chain have. And with Gala having 1.1 million active members, and pre-tax profits for £33m (from the year to 26 September), there's some money to be made from this.

However, like all deals of this nature, it hasn't gone through quite yet, as it needs approval from the Gambling Commission.

Gala chief executive Simon Wykes said: "We are delighted to have secured Caledonia's backing in the next phase of Gala Bingo's development. We believe that Caledonia’s longer term, supportive investment model will give Gala Bingo the stable platform from which we can continue to develop our market leading business."

Gala Coral will be keeping hold of the Gala brand and websites Galabingo.com and Galacasino.com, and through licensing, the actual bingo clubs will continue to trade under the Gala brand, via a licence. It is almost like nothing has changed.

Of course, the real juice here, is that this now paves the way for Gala Coral to merge with Ladbrokes, which is a merger worth a whopping £2 billion. Again, that is subject to approval by regulators.